Eek I'm excited! I missed my chance to win a tank on ebay, but my bf emailed the tank owner and the lady agreed to sell it to me even cheaper than for what it was listed at!

The deal was £150 for everything: tank, cabinet, gravel, filters, ornaments, airstones, airpumps, lights and fish.

The fish have been taken to the lfs, apart from one.. a fairly large pleco. It's only been fed on algae and those green sinking wafers all it's life. There's a slice of cucumber waiting to be eaten but I think the journey was a bit traumatising. I'm not expecting the fish to eat it tonight

The tank is 6ft x 21"x 15". (Can anyone recommend a brand of canister filter. I've seen some really cheap ones on ebay but I'd rather fork out a bit extra and get a good one)

The tank's arriving this thurs so expect pics soon

Congrats! I am so excited for you! Post Pics ASAP... And as for a canister, I have several of the SUNSUN ones off of Ebay and they are great... But if you want to spend the money, I'd go with an FX5!

FX5, you wont regret it and if you upgrade it will still cover you

how exciting! planning will be part of the fun!

I love my eheim canister..... but like others have called out, there are many good ones to choose from.

Cool, we'll be following your every move in the proces.
Please keep us posted step by step.

Wow nice big tank for the Money ...you wont regret that!!

FX5 is the way forward

The plec nibbled his cucumber He's got a garlic soaked slice for tonight to encourage him to eat more

I've read up on the fx5.. for up to 1500 litres, wow!
My new tank will hold approx 380 litres.. is there such a thing as too much filtration?

a turnover rate of 5 times per hour is nice for keeping oscars and is definetly not too much.

Try some zuchinni for your pleco, it has more nutrition than cucumber.
Cucumber consists of mostly water.

The cupboard is bare atm, the only reason the fish is getting cucumber is because we've got a cucumber plant that's being very productive. Can plecs eat potato?
Funnily enough I got a phonecall this afternoon off my bf and he said someone has given him a homegrown courgette that's as big as a marrow

Ooowww, homegrown veggies, your fish are spoiled!
And yes potatoe may be eaten by some plecos.
Just try if they like it.

I slice up the courgette in four pieces , weigh it down so it stays on the bottom of the tank.
All that will be left in the morning is a very thin slice of courgette.
And a very fat pleco of course.

I look forward to seeing your new tank and setup. For the money those SUN SUNs are a great deal. Mine has been working flawlessly. I have the UV light also and I hardly have any algae because of it.(and a pleco ofcourse).

Found the ebay image of the tank. It doesn't look that impressive, it's much bigger in real life. Also the cabinet is quite battered.
Posting this pic because it might be a while before the tank is set up (in the process of moving house)
So just imagine crystal clear water, sandy substrate and the cabinet re-stained with new handles